A breakaway militant group looking to form a semi-autonomous state in eastern Libya has hired controversial Montreal-based lobbyist Ari Ben-Menashe to help it achieve international recognition, sell the region’s oil and obtain cash for military hardware and training, the National Post has learned.

A $2-million fee-for-services contract signed in December and filed in the U.S. government’s foreign lobbyist registry describes how Mr. Ben-Menashe, notorious for starring roles in myriad international scandals and intrigues, will help the self-styled Government of Cyrenaica and its transitional council develop relationships with foreign governments, international organizations and private companies.

The Dec. 17 consultancy agreement describes how Mr. Ben-Menashe will plead his clients’ case in Washington and elsewhere. “In particular,” the contract reads, “we shall strive, among other goals, to gain political recognition for your government from the Russian Federation, to strengthen your military forces by providing you grants for military equipment and training from various governments.”

In addition, the contract reads, “we shall strive to provide you with economic aid by soliciting buyers for your oil when the need arises as well as tankers for the transport of oil.”

Reached at his office in Montreal, Mr. Ben-Menashe said he thinks he can achieve these objectives “quicker in Russia than in the U.S.” But he admits his clients made a serious blunder on Monday, by trying to have a Malta-flagged tanker pick up an illegal shipment of oil from the eastern Libyan port of Es Sider, which is under their control. The Libyan navy intercepted the tanker before it could enter the port, and forced it to turn around empty. Mr. Ben-Menashe said the attempted shipment wasn’t his idea and ran contrary to any advice he has offered. He said he is “very disappointed” at his clients’ actions.

It isn’t the first time Mr. Ben-Menashe has promised to help an African country obtain financial and military assistance from Russia. In 2010, he signed a secret contract with Arthur Porter, then chairman of Canada’s Security Intelligence Review Committee, the federally appointed body that examines activities by the nation’s spy service, CSIS. The deal would have delivered a Russian development grant worth US$120-million to Sierra Leone through a private company that Dr. Porter claimed to own.

The arrangement fell apart, and Mr. Ben-Menashe and Dr. Porter had a falling out. When a National Post investigation described their failed deal, Dr. Porter immediately resigned from SIRC and then vanished. He is now in a Panamanian prison and fighting extradition to Canada, where he faces numerous criminal charges relating to an alleged cash-for-contract deal involving Quebec-based SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.

Again through his Montreal-based consulting company, Dickens & Madson (Canada) Inc., Mr. Ben-Menashe signed a lobbying contract in 2010 with Central African Republic (CAR) and its then-president, Francois Bozize.

Under the terms of that agreement, unearthed by the National Post, Mr. Ben-Menashe sought to obtain for CAR “a gift from the Russian Federation of at least 12 KA50 helicopters as well as training and maintenance activities associated with those aircraft,” plus a grant “whose value could reach US$50-million.”

Born to Jewish parents in Iran and once employed by the Israeli dovernment in what he says was a senior intelligence role, Mr. Ben-Menashe, 62, has also claimed a relationship with Robert Mugabe, president of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

In one notorious episode a decade ago, Mr. Ben-Menashe met in his Montreal office with then-Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and recorded him purportedly plotting to assassinate Zimbabwe’s ageing dictator. Mr. Ben-Menashe later disclosed to the U.S. Department of Justice a series of lobbying contracts he signed with the government of Zimbabwe; the agreements required him to lobby international organizations, governments and media “in order to influence the creation of favourable policies to the government of Zimbabwe and the elimination or prevention of policies and laws unfavourable to the government of Zimbabwe.”

It’s fair to say that Mr. Ben-Menashe has collected many enemies through the years, especially after landing in Montreal in the early 1990s and establishing Dickens & Madson with an American fugitive, who has since been deported.

In December 2012, Mr. Ben-Menashe’s principal residence in Montreal was gutted by fire, after an incendiary device was tossed through a living room window. Police have investigated the incident but have made no arrests.

Mr. Ben-Menashe says his newest clients are led by 31-year-old Ibrahim Jadhran, who reportedly helped topple Muammar Gaddafi’s longstanding regime in 2011 and until recently was allied with Libya’s fragile new central government in Tripoli. Frustrated by the slow pace of reform, corruption within the central authority and continued violence, Mr. Jadhran and forces he assembled seized control of at least five oil terminals in eastern Libya, a petroleum-rich area that they call by its ancient and colonial-period name.

Mr. Jadhran had said the region’s oil would not be sold to markets outside Libya until his group’s political objectives are met, but events Monday seemed to contradict the claim. “They want Libya to become a confederation where power is shared by three distinct regions and where different ethnic groups and tribes can all get along with each other,” says Mr. Ben-Menashe. “They are not seeking full independence or sovereignty, but they would control their own natural resources, their educational and medical systems, some taxation and internal security.”

Mr. Ben-Menashe says he “took a risk” in early December and accepted an invitation to Benghazi, the region’s administrative centre, where he met with Mr. Jadhran. “He’s young, but he’s a compelling figure,” says Mr. Ben-Menashe. “He might be the solution to Libya’s problems. The situation there is very bad. It’s almost a failed state.”

The Government of Cyrenaica exists in name only, albeit with some legislative trappings, including an appointed prime minister and cabinet. Mr. Ben-Menashe says it has wide support in the region it claims to represent and is “very pro-Western.” But it lacks resources, including military equipment. He hopes to change all that; as usual, he makes no apologies for helping facilitate the procurement of arms.